Keep Your Shaver in Tip Top Condition

So you’ve made up your mind, chosen your shaver and handed over some hard earned for it. You’ve had your first shave and it feels great. You wish it could be like this every day. Guess what? It can.

With regular cleaning and a little maintenance your electric shaver could be a friend for life. This guide will take you through the essential points that will keep your shaver (and your face) in tip-top condition.

Cleaning
We’ll start with the easy stuff. A lot of this advice may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many shavers we’ve had brought to us for repair that were just in need of a good clean. The first and easiest tip is to remove the cutting head and gently tap out your beard into a bin or wash basin to be rinsed away. This will ensure the shaver never gets into a state of neglect and it only takes a matter of seconds. If you do this after every shave, or at least after every few shaves, you can avoid a potentially problematic build-up of debris.

If your shaver is tap washable, running it under hot water and cleaning with soap or an alcohol based solution will be sufficient to clean most shavers. Make sure your shaver is unplugged and having removed the cutting head, hold under the tap and shake or tap gently with your hand to remove loose debris and hairs, always being careful not to damage the foil whilst doing so.

Next use a cleaning brush to remove any remaining hairs. The one that comes with your shaver or cleaning kit is best as its narrow shape is able to easily access the tight spaces that debris and hairs may be found. We don’t recommend that you brush the removed foil part or cutting heads as these are very delicate and easily dented, here a gentle tap of the foil frame against the side of your wash basin should be sufficient to dislodge any debris and avoid a build-up over time. The bulk of the hair will fall out as you remove the head anyway, and the remainder will likely be sat around the top of the shaver body. After the cleaning process is completed, dry the parts with a clean dry towel or a hair dryer before reassembly. You should be very careful while doing this; one of the most common causes of foil failure is due to dents which occur during the cleaning process as the foils themselves are much more delicate than people give them credit for. When drying the foil or cutting heads, simply shaking off any excess water into the basin and leave them to air dry, or for a quick result a hair dryer could be used.

There are further steps you can take in keeping your shaving head in good shape. A cleaning spray is an excellent idea for all shavers: apply on a weekly schedule and it will both lubricate and de-grease the cutting blades. Immediately after using the spray the shave will feel smooth and sharp on your face. We recommend a bottle of Braun Shaver Spray, it will suit all models and is easy to apply. Combined with the blow-out method, rinsing and your shaver cleaning-brush, this maintenance routine will be effective for any shaver.

Maintenance
To keep your shaver working at optimum performance you should think about replacing all cutter parts every 18-24 months. After 18 months, you will have shaved as many hairs from your face as there are blades of grass on a football pitch and since the cutter foil and cutter block operate like the two parts of a pair of scissors, they inevitably wear out after so much high performance.

Lubrication is as essential to your shaver as engine oil is to your car. If you are already using a shaver spray to clean your shaver then you will most likely be lubricating it as well. During normal operation your shaver will heat up due to friction, causing stress to metal parts and making them liable to warp and fail. Shaving sprays and lubricants also have anti-corrosive properties which keep the surfaces of metal parts smooth and free from imperfections, reducing wear and extending shaver performance.

A drop of shaver oil or cleaning spray before shaving or after cleaning and drying will reduce friction, help keep parts moving smoothly and inevitably lengthen the life of your shaver.

Following the cleaning process outlined above and periodically replacing ageing cutters is guaranteed to give your shaver a new lease of life. Do this regularly and believe us, your face will thank you for it.